June 06, 2013
NCCA ARTICLES
Like all things, Art is a concept that continuously evolves. Art is progressive and it constantly redefines its boundaries and parameters. But for evolution to take place, it needs a hefty amount of new blood through its system. The Philippine Women’s University School of Fine Arts and Design has no shortage of new blood. Under the tutelage of various veterans in the field of visual arts that the school also has no shortage of; an elegant transfusion is taking place. This transfusion comes in the form of an exhibition called “Sentido Komon“.
Spearheaded by Noel Soler Cuizon who is a veteran artist and has under his belt numerous exhibitions locally and internationally, Sentido Komon is a showcase of PWU-SFAD’s budding new artists along with their mentors. But this goes deeper than your ordinary school recital. It seeks to demonstrate how passionate individuals, through guidance and training from the old breed, could create something new and fresh. It is a demonstration that surpasses simple aesthetics. Sentido Komon is an attempt to find common ground with what is traditional and what we deem revolutionary by finding a common “sense” and common “direction”.
Noel Cuizon, also an educator, explains that this is to show the dynamics of the academic system. Though the academic system is something we see as tightly structured , Cuizon and company here aims to display that, if done right, the academic institution allows the birth of a liberal and progressive perspective; as shown by the various works of PWU’s own visual artists, industrial designers, and performance artists whose works will be showcased come June 6 at the NCCA Gallery. The exhibit also showcases the institution’s forays into new media with collaborations from professors and students that have poured their hearts into this project.
The organizers see the exhibit not just as a one-off event. The show has sparked for Cuizon, a desire to expand on collaborations by the faculty with the students. He believed that both parties could learn more from each other. The younger ones will continuously develop their own identities and cull their passion for creating into concrete outputs with the help provided by the mentorship of the faculty; and the professors shall never stop gaining fresh and new perspective of their craft through the innate curiosity and the willingness to experiment by the younger breed. Cuizon also aims for their art to tackle pressing issues such as copyright laws on visual arts, to name one. He hopes that there will be further partnerships from cultural institutions that support his cause and their message.
Sentido Komon is an exhibition to watch out for. Budding student-artists, who in a few years time will be big names themselves along with their accomplished mentors, aim to provide a showcase whose process is just as important as its product. Witness the fusion of experience and expertise with experimentalism and youthfulness.Sentido Komon takes us towards the fringe of an evolution in both the production and the teaching of arts and design.
NCCA Gallery is located at 633 Gen. Luna St. Intramuros, Manila.
